Messaging Applications and Communication Tools Blog

Are you looking for a new way to enhance communication in your construction company? Well, team chat apps can help. They are relatively faster than email and easier than phone calls. IM is an efficient way to ask quick questions, send a quick memo to people and bounce off ideas. You and your team can utilize these platforms in real time, share files, perform audio calls, manage the projects at hand and much more.

Although some of the well known IM apps have died, i.e., Yahoo Messenger, AIM and MSN messenger, it doesn’t mean there are no viable options. In fact, the market is overcrowded, and the hard part is sorting them out to find the best one for your lake oswego drywall company. Not to fret though, as we have done some digging to find the best team chat apps. That said, here are top, affordable and easy to use team chat apps for business users.

This is perhaps the most popular chat tool for small business. It is a comprehensive and robust chat tool that can be perfect for you and your staff. In addition to a one on one group chat, it comes with team audio calls as well as video conferencing. Users can arrange several projects, teams and other things using hashtags and even share files through the efficient drag and drop option. Users can also use Dropbox, Google Drive and other file-sharing platforms with the app. All chats and files are ideally synced and archived for future purposes.

In addition to these features, the app also offers a wide array of third-party integrations, Google Docs and slides just being a few examples.

This is another chat and inbox platform that allows people to collaborate and keep communications accessible in an easy manner at a single place. Like Slack, it provides private chat feature with individual staff members, group chats as well as threaded discussions. The team inbox feature, on the other hand, stores and organizes messages and emails related to construction project management, client support, etc.

It is easily accessible at any time from any place over the internet using any known platform like Android, Windows, iOS, and MacOS. Push notifications are ideally available across all platforms, so no team member misses an important message or call. Other handy features include the use of ‘@’ mentions to get the attention of a certain user and hashtag integration as well.

This is a user-friendly app that ideally offers collaboration tools. It comes with one on one IM, group chat rooms, screen sharing, file sharing as well as video conferencing. HipChat also integrates with third-party applications like Dropbox, Google apps, Facebook and Salesforce. This makes it a streamlined part of your construction company’s communications.

Firms can use the chat app straight from the website or install it on their servers for a certain price. Regardless, HipChat is accessible from anywhere as long as you have internet connectivity.

The team behind Ryver set their vision from Slack since it was first released. Ryver is designed for Slack users, providing all the functionality, but for zero cost. Yes, it is entirely free- no tiers, premium versions or tricks.

Apart from being free, the app provides threaded topical discussions that help teams sort through the numerous messages on other services and conduct more productive conversations. It’s an excellent team chat app that’s particularly ideal for small construction companies.

All lawyers have secrets, so they need to be very careful with their written communication. They can’t afford to send text messages that may compromise the result of their trials if intercepted by the wrong persons. Even talking can be an issue, as you can never know who listens to you in the shadows. Being an attorney of law isn’t easy, as you have to change your habits and perhaps your life, to secure the privacy level you need in your work.

By definition, a law firm needs to handle information that should remain classified until the case it relates to goes to court. It would be a disaster if the other party grabs information that can be vital to their lawsuit. Lawyers, court reporters and auxiliary staff should be extremely careful when sending messages to third parties. Moreover, since hacking is common in today’s criminal landscape, law firms should also pay attention to their internal communications.

As you can never be sure who’s reading your messages, you have to avoid sending emails that contain sensitive details about your current work. This rule also applies to text messages, as they can also be intercepted by hackers. If you have a very important client, someone who is a public person, you can be sure there are going to attempt to intercept your data. Either the enemies of your client wish to find out details about your strategy in preparing the case, or journalists seek for some spicy details to reveal in their newspapers, the danger is there. You can never be too secure in such situations, so it’s probably better to avoid written communication as much as possible. Even if a journalist wouldn’t do any direct harm, he or she may publish information that should have remained confidential for the time being, causing your lawyers a lot of trouble. A simple piece of information may change the course of a trial, so the danger is huge.

Text messages that get intercepted by cybercriminals may lead to even bigger disasters. Witnesses are very important, so they have to be protected no matter what, as they have to be present the day of the trial. As you can imagine, there may be people who want these witnesses dead, so they would do everything in their power to kidnap or kill them. If the witness disappears before the trial, the case may be compromised. A basic text message revealing the location of a very important witness could be equivalent to a death sentence, should it fall into the wrong hands. Unfortunately, lawyers and policemen are also human, so they are subject to error. The slightest mistake can easily kill a human being, so it comes without saying that they can never be cautious enough when it comes to sending out text messages or emails to other members of their team.

All these lead to the point that encrypting text messages is a must for any law firm that cares about its clients. By using encryption, all lawyers can do their work as they have to, without the fear that they might involuntarily reveal essential information about their current cases. Since everything is going to be encrypted, reading these messages is going to be virtually impossible. Third parties would need to know exactly the encryption keys to be able to understand these messages. Besides, there are encryption methods that make it impossible for anyone to crack their code. This can give attorneys of law the peace of mind that their secrets are going to stay like this for as long as needed, without preventing them from doing their work the proper way.

The other reason why law firms should encrypt their text messages is the possibility that someone from the interior is a spy. This person can cause the firm a lot of harm if access to text messages is free. Even if the others are careful, chances are that the spy is going to find a way to access their text communication and use it to counteract their plans and actions. Such situations can easily lead to bankruptcy, as no law firm is going to survive for too long without winning some cases in court. Text encryption can eliminate this problem. Even if a dishonest employee tried to grab these texts, he or she may not be able to use them, as they would be impossible to decipher.

There are lots of examples of cases that were lost because of leaked data. The history is full of spies and hackers trying to break into the servers of law firms. When these attempts are successful, terrible things may happen, especially if the firm has very important persons as clients. The general public is always willing to get some spicy news, and some journalists would do everything they can to grab such details, even if they had to hire cybercriminals to help them. If you handle them all your messages just like that, you shouldn’t be surprised when you’re going to see your classified information making the news.

A law firm can’t afford to compromise the image of their clients. This is why they have to take all cautionary measures to keep all communication far from the eyes of the public. Encrypting text messages is one of the most effective ways of preventing them from getting hacked and used against the company or its clients. Of course, a law firm has to be extremely careful with bringing new staff on board. The recruiting process should follow specific rules, to prevent intruders from getting a job. The reputation of a law firm is perhaps their strongest asset, so they can’t afford to have it ruined because of a text message fallen into the wrong hands. The more cautionary measures they take, the more secure their workflow is going to be. All these are features potential clients look for when hiring an attorney of law.

Let’s go retro. Do you remember the old chat applications that we used to love and use all the time? Of course, we should. It is because those old apps were the ones that started the trend to make chatting even easier to use. Check the old school chat applications that we used to patronize.

ICQ

It is also called as 1997’s Ok Cupid. Even before all dating sites and chat apps are born, it was ICQ that dominated the list. It was an app where you can search for people based on location, age or gender. You’ll be surprised to know that it has been widely used to find friends and dates.

Netmeeting

Back in the days, getting webcams and all those video apps are hard to do, but that was until Netmeeting was released. It was used widely across the globe. You can chat and video chat with people. It’s just that some of them were just trying to show off their naked bodies.

MSN Messenger

We all know that Microsoft is a big name in the tech industry. When they released the MSN Messenger, it took a toll on the ICQ competition. It was the time when instant messages started to take over the world.

AOL Instant Messenger

It is the old school chat application that is still up and running up to this date. The interface may no longer be like before due to some updates, but it is an IM that is still alive even though there are already a lot of instant chat apps.

We can’t deny the fact that even before we are already hooked to different chat applications. The only difference is that these days it is more convenient to use because the various tools are already available straight on our phones. We can make use of it even if we are on the go.

If we are using the different chat or messaging platforms, we can’t help but sometimes think if our messages are secured or if no one can see it. We can’t help but think because there are times that we send different messages that are confidential or private. If you value security, check the most secure messaging apps that you can use.

Signal Private Messenger

The application is open for iOS and Android phone users so most of us can use it. The best thing about this app is that all messages from the first one are all encrypted. It can ease your minds that no matter how private your messages are, all are secured. Another good thing about Signal is that the person you are trying to send the message doesn’t have to be a Signal user before the messages get encrypted.

Chat Secure

It is a free application that is also compatible with iOS and Android phones. It has open-source auditable encryption libraries to ensure that business transaction made through the chat app is secured. It is also one of the apps that will not require your phone number just to get you on board which is usually the case.

Gliph

It is another free application that offers secure messaging. The best feature of this app is the option for Real Delete whereas you can remove the message on your end as well as the receiving end without any problem. You can use it on your phone or a desktop so it is pretty handy even if you are work that you can’t use your phone.

The different chat applications are released to make things easier for the people. It’s just essential that we make use of the apps that can protect our privacy as well.

Chat applications are widely used in the world today. There is no doubt that it is more used than SMS these days. Why do people choose to use the different applications? Here are the advantages you can get from the various messaging applications and why people use it a lot.

Lower Phone Bills

You can easily send private messages without being burdened with the high bills on your phone. Aside from that, you can send as many messages you want without thinking that you have no enough balance to suffice your messages.

See photos immediately

The old days are gone when you still have to wait until a picture is developed before you can see it. If there is any image that you want to share, the recipient can see it instantly.

Express Emotions

Through the help of chat applications whereas there are a lot of available emoticons, showing the people what you are feeling is no longer a problem. People can quickly know if you are happy, excited or even if you are angry.

Talk as if you are just facing each other

No wonder the chat apps are hot these days because the people you are talking to could be on the other side of the planet yet it feels that you are just sitting right next to each other.

Chat simultaneously

With the help of the different messaging tools, you can already chat with multiple people simultaneously. It can be used to group chat with your friends or even if there is a video conference that needs to be done for work.

Take control

Using the numerous chat applications give you the control on who can send you messages. You can block some people that you do not wish to receive messages from.

There are a lot of benefits chat applications bring to people. Enjoy the different applications and chat to your heart’s delight.

About Us

We know that the technology has provided a new era on how we can reach the people we care about. Starry Messenger wants people to know what the latest and the trending applications that are widely used by the people everywhere.